Now that I’m at the end of this long post, essentially a year’s worth of news about Pat and his legacy, which was long overdue, I feel like I can bring you up to date on Pat’s scholarship. I promised myself that I would not mention it until this post was done. I have kept in touch by emailing many of you, but I owed it to Mike Love and Lauren Schneider, who set up the blog, to keep it current. It’s still not as complete as I would like. There have been many more amazing tributes, stories, jokes, laughter, conversations, realizations, and new perspectives, which I plan to explore. But for now, this was enough. I feel like I can allow myself to mentally shift forward to a cause I think is worthy of Pat.
Shortly after Bob and I came back from the Stanford Memorial, the question of what next arose. Yes, we were agonizing about his headstone, but we needed something more pro-active. We settled on the merit scholarship, which was awarded for the first time last year to eighth-grader Hannah Leo. The reason we chose it was because Pat had won it when he went to Pomfret School. It was the talk of the eighth-grade parents at the Pomfret Community School. Who would get the four-year free ride to arguably one of the best prep schools in the country? With a 99% on his SSAT’s and nothing but A’s on his report card, Pat was the hands down winner. At the time, when he graduated from eighth-grade in 1997, it was worth about $20,000 a year for day students of which he was one since Pomfret School is essentially in our front yard. It may also have been one of the few merit scholarships available. Most schools, Pomfret included, were leaning toward need-based financial aid. Scholarship, for its own sake, was disappearing. In Pomfret’s case, the 9/11 economic down turn spelled the end of what was known as “The Peck Scholarship.”
We approached Pomfret School about resurrecting a merit-based, and merit only, scholarship in Pat’s name. We had seen what it did for Pat. It was his award and his alone. It was not based on our income needs. He had deserved it and been recognized solely based on his ability. We wanted other young scholars to be rewarded on their own merit as well. As Bob put it, we didn’t care if Bill Gates’s son won it. He deserved to be rewarded for his own ability, not his parents’ income or lack thereof. Pomfret immediately agreed, allowing us to make the first presentation last June.
The problem is that we can only award $1,000 a year based on the interest of the approximately $27,000 in the fund so far. Geoff Liggett, Director of the Pomfret School Development Office, estimates that we will need over $1 million to fund a student every year for all four years as Pat was. Day student tuition, at this point, is about $25,000 a year. We are nowhere near rewarding bright students to the same extent, and we cannot approach that level without help.
Some of you have asked how to contribute to Pat’s memory. This is how. Help us make this the full ride that it used to be. Help make Pat’s name the envy of every aspiring Pomfret School applicant in the surrounding towns. I know of no better way to honor his memory. Yes, I would like to see the book and the movie of “The Essential Patrick,” as Ryan called him. I would like to see him at the forefront of enough research to eradicate suicide. But for now, this is a start. It was a reward that made Pat proud, and I would like to see it make others proud. I would like to see them earning every penny of what Pat got because they are simply the most amazing kids in the area, because maybe they are beautiful, quirky, funny, and astonishing. Maybe they are the standard bearers of “The Essential Patrick.”
Thank you for considering it, and for sending a contribution to:
The Patrick Wood Fund
Development Office
Pomfret School
928 Pomfret Street
Pomfret, CT 06258
I don’t think it’s the amount that’s important. Rather, I would like to see as many people as possible send a little bit. It’s a way of seeing the results of your admiration. A long list of donors would put his name in the limelight. You may be thinking that he had so much attention in his short life, and it’s true. He accomplished more than many of us will in a lifetime. But in order to perpetuate what he stood for and what he loved (even though he didn’t like drawing attention to himself), and maybe more fundamental, to create a reason to talk about him, we would love your help. Thank you again for reading, listening, and thinking about “The Essential Patrick.”
All our deepest gratitude,
Lisette
Pat in fifth, sixth, and eighth grade
Shortly after Bob and I came back from the Stanford Memorial, the question of what next arose. Yes, we were agonizing about his headstone, but we needed something more pro-active. We settled on the merit scholarship, which was awarded for the first time last year to eighth-grader Hannah Leo. The reason we chose it was because Pat had won it when he went to Pomfret School. It was the talk of the eighth-grade parents at the Pomfret Community School. Who would get the four-year free ride to arguably one of the best prep schools in the country? With a 99% on his SSAT’s and nothing but A’s on his report card, Pat was the hands down winner. At the time, when he graduated from eighth-grade in 1997, it was worth about $20,000 a year for day students of which he was one since Pomfret School is essentially in our front yard. It may also have been one of the few merit scholarships available. Most schools, Pomfret included, were leaning toward need-based financial aid. Scholarship, for its own sake, was disappearing. In Pomfret’s case, the 9/11 economic down turn spelled the end of what was known as “The Peck Scholarship.”
We approached Pomfret School about resurrecting a merit-based, and merit only, scholarship in Pat’s name. We had seen what it did for Pat. It was his award and his alone. It was not based on our income needs. He had deserved it and been recognized solely based on his ability. We wanted other young scholars to be rewarded on their own merit as well. As Bob put it, we didn’t care if Bill Gates’s son won it. He deserved to be rewarded for his own ability, not his parents’ income or lack thereof. Pomfret immediately agreed, allowing us to make the first presentation last June.
The problem is that we can only award $1,000 a year based on the interest of the approximately $27,000 in the fund so far. Geoff Liggett, Director of the Pomfret School Development Office, estimates that we will need over $1 million to fund a student every year for all four years as Pat was. Day student tuition, at this point, is about $25,000 a year. We are nowhere near rewarding bright students to the same extent, and we cannot approach that level without help.
Some of you have asked how to contribute to Pat’s memory. This is how. Help us make this the full ride that it used to be. Help make Pat’s name the envy of every aspiring Pomfret School applicant in the surrounding towns. I know of no better way to honor his memory. Yes, I would like to see the book and the movie of “The Essential Patrick,” as Ryan called him. I would like to see him at the forefront of enough research to eradicate suicide. But for now, this is a start. It was a reward that made Pat proud, and I would like to see it make others proud. I would like to see them earning every penny of what Pat got because they are simply the most amazing kids in the area, because maybe they are beautiful, quirky, funny, and astonishing. Maybe they are the standard bearers of “The Essential Patrick.”
Thank you for considering it, and for sending a contribution to:
The Patrick Wood Fund
Development Office
Pomfret School
928 Pomfret Street
Pomfret, CT 06258
I don’t think it’s the amount that’s important. Rather, I would like to see as many people as possible send a little bit. It’s a way of seeing the results of your admiration. A long list of donors would put his name in the limelight. You may be thinking that he had so much attention in his short life, and it’s true. He accomplished more than many of us will in a lifetime. But in order to perpetuate what he stood for and what he loved (even though he didn’t like drawing attention to himself), and maybe more fundamental, to create a reason to talk about him, we would love your help. Thank you again for reading, listening, and thinking about “The Essential Patrick.”
All our deepest gratitude,
Lisette
Pat in fifth, sixth, and eighth grade
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